A common cause of residential fires is a lit cigarette falling from an ashtray and igniting furniture or draperies. A typical ashtray has a notch or groove in the outer circumference thereof on which the lit cigarette is balanced, with the lit end overhanging the central area of the ashtray, when not held by the smoker. Often the smoker falls asleep, and as the lit end of the cigarette burns down, the cigarette becomes unbalanced and falls out of the ashtray, potentially causing a fire.
The present inventor has invented a safety cigarette holder to avoid this problem, disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,617,944 issued Oct. 21, 1986. In that device, two cylindrical metal rings are resiliently mounted on elastomeric pieces which are in turn supported on the ashtray by a supporting frame. The two rings are spaced apart less than the diameter of a cigarette so that when a cigarette is pressed between the two rings it displaces the rings and passes below the centre of the two rings, which then bear down on the cigarette to retain it in place. Thus the cigarette may burn down until it comes into contact with the metal rings while still being held in place by the rings.
A problem with the inventor's previous cigarette holder design is that it is expensive and difficult to mass-produce. The present invention provides a structure for achieving the same benefits as the inventor's previous safety cigarette holder which is simpler and less expensive to mass produce.